Minnesota Appeal of “Fine the Buyer” Video Game Law Goes Down
By Shawn on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 8:20 PM PST In Game Platforms, Game Related Laws, Gamer Life, Games
In 2006 the state of Minnesota passed a law that penalized the buyer by charging a $25 fine to kids, not retailers, caught purchasing video games beyond their ESRB rating level. U.S. District Court Judge James Rosenbaum overturned the law after actually playing several violent video games on his law clerk’s Xbox.
Unsatisfied, Minnesota appealed the ruling to the 8th U.S. Circuit. After hearing the case, the 8th Circuit has upheld judge Rosenbaum’s decision ruling that the “penalize the buyer” law was unconstitutional.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune had this to report about the ruling:
While the judges upheld Rosenbaum’s ruling that violent games are entitled to First Amendment protections, they did so reluctantly.
[Judge] Wollman wrote that “whatever our intuitive (dare we say commonsense) feelings regarding the effect that extreme violence portrayed in the above-described video games may well have upon the psychological well-being of minors,” precedent requires incontrovertible proof of a causal relationship between exposure to the games and some psychological harm.
The state failed to meet that burden, Wollman wrote… “Indeed, a good deal of the Bible portrays scenes of violence, and one would be hard-pressed to hold up as a proper role model the regicidal Macbeth,” Wollman wrote.
According to GamePolitics, the reluctance to uphold the ruling is unsurprising. Debate over this bill has been heated and produced some memorable quotes.
Bill sponsor Rep. Sandy Pappas (D) actually said:
Legislators don’t worry too much about what’s constitutional.
Mike Hatch (D) serving as Attorney General at the time expressed the opinion that violent games are a form of speech:
Worthless, disgusting speech… speech of very low societal value.
These opinions are both unimaginative and unsurprising. I’ve got to wonder if either of these politicians have even bothered to try out any mature rated video games. It’s a good thing we have a system of checks and balances in our government and a judicial branch that tempers our “representatives. ”
via GamePolitics
Once again our country is in a middle of a war, economy is going to hell, terrorist still out there but my god we have to take priority here people and kill them evil video games!!
What really pisses me off is like most weak-minded people you can never win against them. Like most gamers probably do, I also play violent games and also like most gamers, never killed anybody, never done drugs cause of them (or at all), never wanted to kill hookers then ramp off a bridge to get money mysteriously deposited in my bank. You could show idiots like these people how your a good everyday person, who has a job and doesn’t fit any of the gamer stereotype, especially the male gamer stereotype, and they would still find something “wrong” with you and that the video games caused it.
It all boils down to whether or not an individual has the ability to distinguish between what is reality and what is fantasy.
The people who can’t tell the difference are the ones who, when they see something violent on TV or in a game go on a rampage and kill people.
Ultimately the responsibility falls on parents to teach their children to know the difference between reality and fantasy and teaching their kids to know the consequences of their own actions.
I will instill this knowledge in my children throughout their life.
Some people are retards